unveil in the senate this week. >> diamonds may be forever, but will it work as an investment. >> figuring out your investment strategy. >> viewer mail. >> it's all ahead on today's "first business." >> you're watching "first business," financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. >> good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. while more states are coming under the pressure of mounting debt, new jersey's declared a budget emergency. there should be more pain ahead if states are facing huge budget deficits. >> the markets are closed

monday, so traders will enjoy a day off. it's valentine's day sunday. we are expected to spend about $103 a person. >> lawmakers are turning up the heat on toyota. representative darrell isa of california wants to subpoena the c.e.o. to force him to testify in front of congress in lately february, when there will be congressional hearings on toyota's massive recall. a decision has not been made yet on the subpoena. >> the stock markets and in plagues have people turning to diamonds as an investment. with valentine's day sunday, there is an up tick in sales. investors are taking a shine to the diamond market. >> people worry about putting large amounts of money in the bank when 10 years from now if the inflation eats up that money, they are looking into natural resource, which his

diamonds. >> at house of kahn, vice president of the business tobina kahn reveals diamond demand is on the rise. many people are look to go buy the precious gems saying the bigger the better. >> anything five-carats and higher. >> take a look at this 18-carat shiner. some choose diamond over gold because it's easier to handle. >> a 16-carat diamond, you would need 100-kilos of gold bouillon and the size of a small room to store it. you would need 50 bars if not more of gold bouillon. do the math. >> among other reasons people put their money in stone, diamonds are not regulated by banks, don't go bankrupt, and unlike real estate, you to pay taxes every year. >> we're selling a lot of diamonds. >> jewelry retailer david

lampert notices the consumer love affair with diamonds. >> even with the downturn last year, people were still putting their money in diamonds. there were some very good buys a year ago. the market has tightened up. while there's still some good buys, especially if you look long term where it's going to be, they've regained quite a bit in their value. >> because there's a large supply at the one, two, and three-carat levels, lampert agrees most investors are searching for five-carats or more. under five-carats, he recommends the round cut, because it's always in style. >> when you buy a fine diamond with proper documentation, it's always going to have a value. >> he suggests it's best to go to an estate jeweler to get the best values. right now, it's the older jewelry set in platinum, gold, and encrusted in diamonds in

high demand. >> whether a diamond for investment or something to wear, it's hard to pick the perfect cut. >> david lampert says go with the round. it's always best if you're buying some of the sizes in the one, two object, three-carat size. the marquee used to be a seller, but if you're looking for a bigger diamond, you can go with any cut. >> i don't know much about diamonds. is it worth having a diamond as an investment. >> david made a great point. he said buy it because you'll like it. >> time for trader talk. we join ron payin pankau. >> the market is trending at a certain level. we keep aiming for those levels.

today, the 1070 is the big brake out in the s&p's. the market got an in flux which orders and moved up rapidly from there. you get these nice little pullbacks, but they come maybe half of the way back, and people step in and buy them again. >> is there a level of uncertainty still existing in the stock market? >> i think what's happened is there's a lot of people in there that are looking at some of the treasuries this week at what happened in there, and what bernanke said, that maybe this economy's coming around. he suggested earlier in the week that maybe the discount rates might have to be raised. the only time they're going to raise the discount rate is if things are moving around pretty good. he throws that out there to see how the market would react. it reacted well to it. i think if retail sales is neutral to a positive number, that will help the market going

into the weekend with the momentum. you have this sovereign debt thing, which greece seemed to abproblem, but doesn't seem to be a problem anymore. >> thanks so much, ron pankau. >> lawmakers unveiled a proposal for a jobs bill on thursday. senators are not likely to vote until the last of the february. it's an $85 billion plan including tax breaks for small businesses hiring new workers, along with construction projects, and an extension of unemployment benefits and health care coverage, along with other ideas. >> recent numbers show the job market is trying to recover with some applications for unemployment benefits falling more than expected last week, and the nation unemployment rates stands at 9.7%. >> friday, we get retail sales, crude oil and natural gas reports and business inventories. >> on the earnings front, duke

energy report quarterly results. >> still ahead on "first business," one viewer compared wall street insiders to terrorists in today's viewer mail. >> first, how to add convenience to your investing st. that's next. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

taught in vestors that it can be scary putting your money in the markets. many are searching for ways to

make investing more manageable amidst every day life. christine benz has suggestions for us in her book, "30 minute money solutions." what can you accomplish in 30 minutes? >> quite a lot, actually. i took 36 separate financial planning tasks, and took them step-by-step to show investors how to accomplish them in a half hour. you can allocate an i.r.a., pick a vehicle for college savings, create a budget. any task you can knock off in a half hour. >> what does getting organized entail. >> one of the key steps is to take stock of your net worth. >> take your assets and subtract your liabilities from them. that's a great starting point to figure out what you need to address. if you're in negative territory, obviously attacking our debt is

the first key step. i also talked about simply getting organized. a lot of people chuck their investment paperwork and financial paperwork on their desk and things get lost. i talk about how to tame that paperwork mess. one of the key things to know is that you can get rid of a lot more than perhaps you think you can. people hang on to too much stuff. >> one question is whether you pay down debt or invest. we all know credit card debt is bad. what about other debt. >> there are great areas. one thing people might think about is well, i have no mortgage, but i always want to invest, can i prepain the mortgage, should i prepay the mortgage, or should i invest in an i.r.a. or my 401k. i walk through the steps to think about in making that decision. the key advantage to paying down the mortgage is that that's a sure return on your money. you're not likely necessary to

earn as much as your mortgage interest rate by investing in the market. your mortgage deduction might not be saving you as much as you think it is. >> should people try to pick individual stocks, which can be very difficult, you've got to do a lot of research. >> you do. a lot of investors are wrestling with this question. it comes down to how much time you to have research. if you have a gut sense or you think some certain sector is going to go up, certainly the e.t.s. is better for you if you don't have time to research individual names. if you have more time to devote to stocks, that can be the way to go, but it is a time commitment on an ongoing basis. >> how should we tackle our 401k's? many companies have stopped the matching funds. >> they have. although it's hard to deny that that dollar cost averaging, regular sums that you put into them, that's a powerful way to invest, but if you're not

earning a match, most investors are better off starting with a roth i.r.a. where they'll be able to invest in really anything without administrative costs, and they'll be able to take tax-free withdrawals when you're retired. that's a good place to start if you're not get ago match. if you're getting a match, that should be your starting point because investing anywhere else, because not investing there woulding like turning away money. >> i often talk to in vestors who watch their investments every day. you might be inclined to trade more. i think an annual checkup is plenty. if you want to do more quarterly or semi annually, go in with a check list of specific things that you want to look at, and get out. don't focus on performance, and don't be inclined to make short term trades based on whatever's working in the market right now.

>> thank you very much. christine benz of morning star, her book is called "30 minute money solutions." you can find more advice on how to pick an i.r.a. that's right for you as well as estate planning and investing for college in the book. >> straight ahead, one viewer says wall street bankers are no different than terrorists. ew mail segment. today in our i need pain relief that won't mess with my grip.

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time now for viewer mail segment. paul is leer to talk about it. we're talking about health care. >> there's nothing we can do to get these premiums down now. if the two parties cannot come together to get this, then we're in trouble. it's utterly ridiculous, and no one can afford it. >> joe from kentucky is talking about insurance companies raising premiums ahead of the health care debate. because of the uncertainty, there was fear that there was going to be a health care plan passed. obviously that's dead at least for now. joe was complaining about how premiums are likely to stay high. >> climbing rates are certainly an issue of california, where well point raised their rates 39% on individual that is buy their own health insurance in the market. that clearly is higher payments

for those that need to buy their own insurance. >> even those dealing with employer sponsored health care plans, like me, for example, i'm paying a lot more for my health insurance, and yet i would have to say the quality of care has probably gone down. i think frustrations are felt across all levels. >> and certainly something that is going to get a lot more attention in both houses of congress. >> this is a viewer who compares the recession to jumping off a peer and sinking in deep water, saying it seems this recession is being called over when they have stopped going deeper, but we have a ways to go before reaching surface air. millions are unemployed, and only a few jobs added. is it ok to take breath? >> i don't think it is. the economic recovery is still shaky. we've only seen two quarters of economic growth so far.

you can't hang our hat on that. >> if you look at the job losses we've experienced recently, not really encouraging signs from july through january, some significant job losses. >> exactly, and since the session started since september of 2007, more than 8 million americans have lost their jobs. take a look at this number here, the number of total unemployed americans is 14.8 million. >> quite a staggering number. >> it certainly is. >> our next email here, from jose merroro. wall street should be viewed by our government as a terrorist organization. it's ironic 9/11 did not cause the problems wall street did to the world. the american people are the number one target of wall street, and our economic safety does not compute in their

earnings, our government spends money trying to keep us safe from external terrorists, but our in born terrorists do a better job than any external terrorists. we should roof the wall street terrorists or create a system to compete with private banks to make them more willing to put economic safety before earnings. i've got to say that's probably the best email we've gotten in the three years that i've been here. >> a little harsh, i think comparing wall streeters to terrorists. violence and greed are really two different things. >> it's the greed that has taken place on wall street for the past several years has destroyed the lives of millions and millions of americans, and that is a tragedy. >> thank you so much for sending your comments and voice mails. keep them coming. we always want to here from you.

call is at 312-660-8397 or he maim us at comments@firstbusinessnews.com. >> trader dan deming talks about the latest market action right this break.

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equities. good morning to you. it's valentine's day on sunday. >> we're going to have two news items that dictate where we go from here, retail sales and consumer sentiment. we're looking for a increase in retail sales. the market will move dramatically lower or higher. the s&p is trading just as the resistance area of 1080. 1078 when we close. we see a breakthrough 1080, the market trending next week going up into 1100 on the s&p 500. the vix around 2160, if we get this news higher tomorrow morning positive. >> are you expecting volatility

in this market? >> based on what we're seeing in the vix and trading there, it appears so. we're buying way out of the money calls. particularly february into march, also, there's still uncertainty about where this market is going over the next week to month. i think volatility is still going to stay in this market. i see a high side of 1100 for the s&p 500 if we break the 1080 level. if we break back down, 200 day moving in the vix is 530. i see the vix spiking up to 30, and s&p testing it's average on the low side. i think that's the likely scenario over the next weeks. >> thank you very much. have a wonderful weekend. >> thanks, angela. you, too. >> on the watch list, is the flight to safety trade over or not. >> the u.s. dollar index

rocketed up 7% since december. investors have flocked to the u.s. dollar out of fears that other countries like greece cannot pay their debt. now that the european union is working on a bailout for greece, the u.s. dollar has leveled off. when exactly the federal reserve will raise short term interest rates could add support to the u.s. dollar, but a boost in the if he said fund rate is not expected for several months. >> that's it for today's show. thanks for joining us, everyone. have a great weekend.

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